Healthy, sustainable food is too expensive – what you can do, pt. 1
Eating healthily & sustainably is too expensive…
There are so many ways to look at this statement. One, if you look at the true cost of the food – how cheap, processed food is really costing us our health and the health of our planet – it’s obviously a different story. Cheap food is WAY too expensive in the long run.
So, I can give you a bunch of tips from my white-privileged self about how to eat well on a budget because buying real, quality food is so worth it.
BUT, there’s a deeper problem here that needs to be addressed. I don’t want to just spew fluff, anyone can do that. I want to drive real change – for you and for our planet – and this means we need to begin to understand the root of the issue.
There are currently over 20 million Americans living in food deserts and/or food swamps1 Maybe you’re one of them? It’s not just that the families who live in these areas cannot afford real food (most food deserts are in areas of lower socioeconomic status), it’s not even easily available to them.
This is where I see it as everyone’s responsibility to do what they can, and to vote with their dollars when they can. The more we demand change in whatever capacity we have available – whether it be buying the best quality that you can, speaking up to your local politicians, voting, etc. the more available and affordable these foods will be.
And remember, what you DO spend your money on is just as impactful as what you DON’T spend it on.
This kind of change CAN happen quickly. I bet you remember a time when the grocery store had maybe a few organic items, if any at all – and now it’s much easier to find organic produce. That’s because demand for organic food has been steadily increasing over the last decade and more.
As another real-life example of how demand affects supply: when I first went dairy free for my daughter in 2015, there were just a couple companies that made things like dairy free milk, ice cream, and yogurt. Now – there are dozens of options for these products.
Change happens quickly when you vote with your dollars, so I urge you to do what you can with what you have.